mellen



J. 0. MELLEN.

Grain Drier.

Patented April 2, 1867.

N. PETERS, PHOTO LTHOGRA WASHINGTON n c JOHN O. MELLEN, OF ST. LOUIS,MISSOURI, ASSIGNORTO L. G. QUINLIN, JR.

Lam Patent No. 63,412, dated April 2, 1867.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY oononnw:

' Be it known that I, JOHN O. MELLEN, of the city and county of St.Louis,'and State of Missouri, have invented a new Drying-Apparatus, fordrying grain, flour, and other like articles; and I do hereby declarethat the following is a full and clear description thereof, referencebeing had to' the accompanying drawings,

and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a side elevation of the improved apparatus.Figure 2 is an end elevation. Figure 3 is a plan; and Figure 4 is atransverse sectional elevation. The nature of my invention consists informing the bottom of the troughs which constitute the receptacle forthe grain or other article to be dryed of two pieces or metal plates,forming a chamber for heated air in and along the bottom of the trough,for equalizingthe temperature of the grain or other-article within saidtrough. Also in combining hollow spiral conveyors, or hollow cylinders,provided with a hollow spiral flange communicating with the interior ofsuch cylinders, whereby the conveyers'themselves afford drying surfacein addition to that obtained in the sides and bottom of the troughsproper.

To enable those skilled in the art to make and use my improved dryingapparatus, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A is the framework, upon which the other parts of the machine aresupported. Arranged in this frame is a series of conveyor-troughs, B,one above the other. These troughs are semicircular in form, as clearlyshown in fig. 4, and each one is formed of two pieces or shells 6 bbetween which there is a heating chamber, b. Within each of the troughsB there is a hollow metal cylinder, U, the periphery of which isprovided with a thread or worm, a, such as is usually employed in flourconveyers of the screw variety. The cylinders C are mounted on hollowjournals 0 H, which may be connected, by means of suitableswivel-joints, with the induc tion and eduction pipes, (not shown,)which areto convey the hot air or steam into and out of the said cylinders, as will be hereinafter more fully explained. The journals 0 are tobe provided with cog-wheels C, or equivalent devices, whereby the wholeof the set of conveyors C 0 may be set in motion and rotated in harmony.Power applied to one of these wheels will set in motion the whole set.The spiral flange or'worm 0, formed on the outer periphery of thecylinders C, may be of any suitable hollow shape that will admit ofcommunication be ween the cavity formed therein and the interior of thecylinder, though this spiral flange may of itself form a part of thecylinder 0. Thus the hot air or steam which is to fill the latter willalso fill the former, and the heating surface of the conveyer will bethereby correspondinglyincreased. The induction pipe D is connected, bymeans of the branch pipes at, with the heating chambers b Each of thesebranch pipes should be provided with a stop-cock, d, for the purpose ofrcgulatingthe flow of the heated air or steam into the said chamberb tThere is also a branch pipe, (i leading from each of the said chambers17 to the eduction pipe Di, and this last= named pipe should also beprovided with a stop-cock, d, for the purpose of retaining the hot airor steam within the said cylinders.

The grain or flour which is to be dried by this apparatus is to be fedinto the forward end of the topmost conveyer, from whence the revolvingscrew will convey it to the other end of its trough, where it will findan exit down through the discharge pipe 6 into the next conveyer below,where the screw of. that tier. will carry it back to the other endagain, where it will find another exit, 6 through which it will passinto the next lower conveyor, to be again conveyed, in a horizontaldirection, to the opposite end; and so on through the Whole series ofconvcyers.

The cylinders C will'be provided with a seriesof branch pipes andstop-cocks similar to that already described for the chambers 6 andatmospheric air, heated to a high temperature, or steam, may beintroduced into both the chamber 6 and the cylinder C. As the grain orfiour to be dried will come into immediate contact with the heatedplates of the conveyer C c, and also the trough plating b, and as thesaid heated surfaces may be increased to any desired number ofsuperficial feet, simply by increasing the number or length of theconveyers, it follows that a drying apparatus may be constructed, in themanner herein described, which will thoroughly and quickly cureor dryany material which can be passed through the conveyers; and as thematerial which is thus passed through the conveyors is constantly turnedover, and worked up, and kept in motion, there can be but little or noclifliculty to be apprehended from scorching or burning. If hot air beused for the purpose of heating the chambers, it is probably preferableto open all the stop-cocks and let the hot air be forced through thechambers in continuous currents, by means of some suitable air-forcingapparatus. But if steam be used, it will be better to close the cocks inthe eduetion pipes during most or the whole of the operation. And inthis case it will also be necessary to provide suitable stop-cocks fordrawing oil the water that may accumulate in the chambers from thecondensation of steam. In either case the stop-cocks of the inductionpipes may be used to regulate the heat.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim therein as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Paient The hollow spiral or spirally flangedconveyers G, in combination with a double-bottom troughpB, and chamber 6substantiallyin the manner and for the purpose herein set forth.

JOHN O. MELLEN. Witnesses:

M. RANDOLPH, S. M. RANDOLPH.

